The Blaine Griffen lab (formerly at the University of South Carolina) is in the process of moving to Brigham Young University and is seeking motivated graduate students at either the PhD or MS level to begin Fall 2018. Interested applicants should contact me directly at [email protected] to discuss potential research projects and to determine whether my lab is a good fit for them.
A bit about work in our lab Our lab studies the response of organisms to environmental changes brought about by humans (climate change, invasive species, habitat destruction, etc.). We generally take a bottom up mechanistic approach, determining how morphology, behavior, and physiology facilitate or constrain the responses of individual animals to environmental change, and how these individual level responses then scale up to establish patterns and processes at the population and community levels. We do this by employing a wide range of ecological tools, including field and laboratory experiments, physiological measurements, and simulation and mathematical modeling. Our work has been implemented across a wide range of systems, including coastal marine invertebrates (primarily crabs and burrowing shrimp), freshwater zooplankton, and polar bears. A bit about the Biology Department at Brigham Young University Housed in a new, state of the art building, the biology department (http://biology.byu.edu) comprises a large and dynamic faculty spanning a diverse array of collaborative research areas including Ecology, Evolutionary Ecology, Molecular Systematics, Bioinformatics, Conservation Biology, and Biological Science Education. The focus both within my lab and within the department as a whole is on integrating modeling, theory, and experimentation. Exceptional facilities and resources for carrying out research are available through the Monte L. Bean Life Science Museum (http://mlbean.byu.edu), Lytle Ranch Preserve http://mlbean.byu.edu/lytle), the DNA Sequencing Center (http://dnasc.byu.edu), the Research Instrumentation Core Facility (http://ricfacility.byu.edu), the Microscopy Lab (http://microscopy.byu.edu) and the Fulton Supercomputing Lab (https://marylou.byu.edu). In addition to these facilities, students in my lab group may choose to take advantage of our ongoing collaborations in order to conduct research at field lab facilities in New England, in the southeast (South Carolina, Florida), or in the Pacific northwest. BYU is located in Provo, Utah, where opportunities for world-class skiing, fly-fishing, kayaking, hiking, mountain biking, and many other outdoor recreational activities are less than 20 minutes from the lab. Salt Lake City is only 45 minutes travel by car or commuter rail. The application deadline for Fall 2018 admission is January 15, 2018 (https://gradstudies.byu.edu/). Blaine Griffen Email: [email protected]
